Anthony Watts has often snuggled up to Dr. Soon. Hand-waving about solar climate influences has been a great side-show for denialists, but it’s been hard for them to find a reliable figurehead for their obstruction. Being able to whisper “HArvard! SmithSONian!” must have been just irresistible. Dr. Soon’s work, while widely discredited, had a “sciencey” look and he made a great tame Republican witness in kangaroo court Senate Hearings.

The best Anthony can do is suggest that the benighted Dr. Soon is the victim of a smear campaign because, well, facts are smears. Then the usual Morris Dance ensues: invoke the malevolent “compliant media” and immediately talk about something else.

Did you know that “climate science is a huge money machine”? So what if Willie wanted a taste! Anthony tries to play the herd mentality card (I guess that makes Dr. Soon our latest Galileo, funny how he’s always reincarnated as a denialist these days) but doesn’t notice that each ‘overturned consensus’ came about through considering new evidence, not through pig-headed repetition of the same crap.

Butter wouldn’t melt in Anthony’s mouth though when he brazenly tries to invoke the e-mails of mainstream climate scientists targeted in the false “Climategate” uproar. They solicited funds from the energy industry too, although without the flirtatious promises, Willie’s just the latest nose in the trough! What were once vices are now virtues, the denialist outrage during Climategate is so yesterday.

Remember the whole “97% of climate scientists accept the evidence of global warming” thing? Guys like Willie Soon are the 3%.

“Follow the money” Anthony sagely advises, but he really wants to lead us down the garden path.

“Bigger problems than global warming – NASA discovers 8 new dangerous near Earth asteroids“ (2015-01-19i). Red Alert! Anthony Watts wants us to know about Eric Worrall’s shocking discovery that there’s something we should all really be worried about! Meteors! Meteorites? NEOs? Stop worrying about so-called climate change (which is already affecting everyone on Earth and will steadily increase in impact) and start worrying about meteors, which may or may not strike the Earth and would have effectively no prolonged climate influence.

“[T]he risk of a damaging meteor impact is not a possibility which should be neglected” says Eric. Somehow Eric’s caution doesn’t extend to the undeniable (except by, you know, denialists) fact that man’s industrial activity is already measurably altering Earth’s climate in a negative way. That should be neglected as well as vigorously denied.

Riiiiight.

Eric also manages to throw in a heaping plate of sneering at NASA for the work they’ve done to study the risks posed by Near Earth Objects while being careful not to explain that low funding for the work is because of cost-cutting anti-science Republicans.

Eric’s apparent belief that satellites should be able to refuel as easily and often as the average family sedan is just cute.

I’m mildly horrified that a project this important appears to be so far down the list of priorities, that the project was mothballed for a year while the survey satellite stood waiting for a refuel.

Buy why are political cranks like Eric and Anthony bothered with public safety? Surely all handsome, virile, brilliant, libertarians will have made their own personal arrangements to either leave the planet for an extended vacation or activated their bunker networks. Anyone unable to do the same surely deserves what they get!

P.S. Does Eric Worrall actually rely on The Register for breaking scientific news?

After the crazy temperature records all across Australia earlier this month, Anthony somehow had to change the subject to something a little less awkward I guess.

Not quite sure why Anthony thinks, or pretends to think, it’s a revelation that there are more deaths during cold weather than hot weather. Or what that really has to do with climate. Cold weather deaths are generally a risk to those with inadequate shelter, not some magic indicator of ‘the best’ climate for Homo sapiens.

It makes a useful denialist bellowing talking point I guess, but I love how eagerly Anthony jumps on any mention of the word “cold”. It’s almost Pavlovian!

What’s got Benny’s knickers in a knot, other than opportunistically hopping on the anyone who criticizes us is just like the Islamic murderers in France wagon?

Well, it’s all about Benny of course.

It seems his crony Nigel Lawson at their “high-profile” Global Warming Policy Foundation is so discredited that he’s having a tough time getting on the air at the BBC. And as everyone knows, free speech requires that dishonest statements get just as widely heard as honest ones. Doesn’t it? That’s a Chilling Effect on dishonest partisans!

Also in 2014 Dr. Lennart Bengtsson, 79, jumped from the GWPF after two weeks when he discovered that the GWPF wasn’t part of a “peaceful [scientific] community”. Benny’s left wondering how his anti-science “think tank” can recruit spokespeople. That’s also a Chilling Effect on dishonest partisans!

The GWPF’s critics “reminds me about the time of McCarthy” said Dr. Bengtsson. Here’s a tip for Benny and Bengtsson: McCarthy was the guy who accused people he didn’t like of being communists. Remind you of anyone?

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“Portents in Paris“ (2015-01-10). Last week Islamic fanatics cold-bloodedly murdered a dozen French journalists at Charlie Hebdo who have mocked extremist Islam, and there’ll be an environmental conference in Paris this year. Therefore environmental activists are just as bad as murderous Islamic fanatics! An idiot’s cartoon proves it!

“Freedom of speech” is really just a useful jumble of letters to Anthony, something to whine accusingly while pretending that he doesn’t aggressively impede, censor or block critics on his own little mud-pit of a website.

From the crude pen of a crude thinker.

Here’s a tip: “freedom of speech” doesn’t mean that anyone is required to repeat Anthony or his buddies’ statements. And when the things Anthony declares must be heard don’t rise above the level of malicious, dishonest, false and misleading he’s going to have a hard time finding someone who is willing to share them with others. Unless they have the same malicious agenda. Continue reading →

Given Anthony’s deep commitment to (muddying) the climate debate, you’d think he’d be upset that a climate topic isn’t among EurekaAlert’s 2014 most popular press releases. (No link to the source in Anthony’s post.) Shouldn’t he want more chances to fool the public, to spread confusion, to smear “bureaucrats”?

No, Anthony’s happy that climate issues seem to be losing attention. He does his best work in the shadows and under rocks.